The two stopped just at the front door of the Swan residence. All the lights were out and apparently everyone was asleep. The professor closed his eyes in order to focus on the inhabitants of the house.
"Bella's asleep as is her father. She seems to be a bit nervous about going to school for the next few days. Her father has told her that she could call in sick for a day or two. Just to give things a chance to calm down a bit. Besides, her truck will be repaired in just a couple of days."
"Good thing she has such an old truck. It took the impact without a lot of damage," Wolverine growled. He lifted his nose. "Someone else is here, professor. Watching from the woods."
"That would probably be Edward. I told you he is intrigued that he can not read the young girl's thoughts." Charles smiled. "And his desire for his blood has been overridden by the thought of protecting her."
"I still don't like the thought of him hanging around Bella. She's such a little innocent."
"Maybe not as much as you would like to think."
"She doesn't know about vampires, does she?"
"No but I don't think our Bella is quite as innocent as we might all want her to be."
****
Two days later, Bella drove into the school parking lot in her beat-up old truck. Charlie had asked the boys from the reservation to come and fix it for her. Now you couldn't even tell that it had been in an accident.
"Bella, I'm really glad your truck's fixed. I'd hate to see you have to get a ride in the squad car with Charlie," Angela gushed running up to her.
"I'm just glad she was inside when it happened," Mike Newton said. "I hate to think about what could have happened to her."
"Thanks for worrying about me, guys. But I'm fine. Really."
Bella walked into the office to turn in the note her dad had written for her. Mrs. Cope stood behind her counter smiling at her. "I'm so glad to see you feel better, dear. We missed you while you were out."
Something changed in Mrs. Cope's eyes and Bella knew immediately that she was being watched over while at school. "Thank you, Mrs. Cope." Bella smiled at the woman she now knew was her grandmother.
Mystique smiled to herself. She knew she never could have deceived her granddaughter the way she could most anyone else. Bella was one of those special mutants. She had a variety of powers. And no one knew how many more might manifest themselves by the time she was fully-grown.
****
That night, Bella was tossing and turning as she relived the crash in her dreams. As her dreams calmed a bit she never saw Edward looking in through the window from the tree that sat there.
He berated himself repeatedly for peeping in her window like some human pervert. But just as he was about to drop himself back to the ground, he allowed himself a long look at her face.
It wasn't peaceful. There was a little furrow between her eyes. The corners of her lips turned down. "Okay, Mom," she muttered.
'Oh this is rich. Miss Swan talks in her sleep. Maybe I can find out something about her.'
Edward lifted on the window discovering it unlocked even though it stuck due to long disuse. 'I'll have to get some oil for the next time.' Even as he thought it, he wanted to slap himself. Why would he even consider that this could happen again? He knew that he should stay away from this girl but something pulled him to her.
Her room wasn't messy but disorganized. Of course it was small which didn't allow for much organization. He longed to look at the books stacked beside her bed to learn some of her interests. He didn't dare though. That would put him too close to her.
"Edward." He looked to the bed. She seemed asleep but the voice was so clear. "Edward," she said again as she turned under the covers. Was she dreaming of him? "Stay. Don't go. Please don't go."
He felt as if his still heart had started beating once again. She wanted him to stay with her in her dream.
He sensed the emotions closing over his head and, for several long moments, was drowning in those very emotions. When he surfaced again, he realized that he loved Bella Swan and would do so until his existence ended.
He had to choose. Could he leave her in order to keep her safe? Could he be selfish enough to ask Carlisle to change her to keep her with him forever?
Wait, there was a third choice. One that would allow her to stay human and him to stay with her. But was he strong enough to do it? Could he control himself so completely that he could be in a relationship with her and leave her human?
He took a deep breath allowing her scent to wash over him. Several times, he sent his head spinning by taking deep breaths of her scent. He knew that he had to become used to the burn it caused in the back of his throat in order to prevent Alice's vision of her future as a vampire.
Edward sat beside the woman that he loved, building a tolerance to her scent until the sun peeked over the trees and he knew he had to head home and get ready for school.
As he ran off, Wolverine stepped out of the tree line. "I'm watching you, boy.
